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(No Model.)

-2Sheets-Sheet 1. H HOWSON Telephonio Apparatus. No. 240.419.

Patented April 19, I88l..

O-LIYMDGRAPHER. wASmNG oN. D C.

(No Model.) ZSheets-Sheet 2.

HOWSON.

- Telephonio Apparatus. No. 240,419. Patented April 19,1881.

UNITED, STATES PATENT FFICE.

HENRY HOWSON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN L. KITE, OF SAME PLACE.

TELEP'HONIC APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 240,419, dated April 19, 1881.

Application filed March 14,1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY HOWSON, a citizen of the United-States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Telephonic Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The object of myiuven tion is to obviate the necessity of removing the receiver of telephonic apparatus from the switch-arm and readjusting it thereto; and this object I attain by combining a transmitter and a shield with the switch and with mechanism, substantially as described hereinafter, whereby the operating of the switch is made dependent upon the covering and exposing of the orifice of the transmitter by the said shield.

A further object of my invention is the adoption of a fixed receiver in telephonic apparatus; and a still further object is to permit the use of a telephone while both hands of the operator are at liberty.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of telephonic apparatus, showing my improvements Fig. 2, a side view; Fig. 3, a view of a treadle for operating the shield; and Fig. 4a perspective view, representing a modification of my invention.

In Figs. 1 and 2 A is a telephone-box, which may be made in accordance with any of the plans now in use; and a, is the switch-arm, to which the receiver of ordinary telephonic apparatus is suspended when out of use, the weight of the said receiver depressing the switch-arm, and keeping the telephonic circuit disconnected, and the circuit being established whenever the switch-arm is relieved from the weight of the receiver.

I discard the usual mode of operating the switch-arm a, and connect it, by a rod, 1), to an arm, 61, on a shaft, D, which is adapted to suitable bearings ff, the latter being secured, in the present instance, to one side of the ordinary michrophone-transmitter G. To this shaft D is secured a shield, H, of such a form that when in the position Fig. 1 it will cover the orifice of the transmitter, a spring, F, attached at its upper end to a fixed pin, h, tending to depress the switch-arm to the bottom of the slot at in the case, or to a point which insures the disconnection of the circuit. The shield can be turned back to about the extent indicated by dotted lines, so as to expose the orifice of the transmitter, in doing which the switch-arm a is raised, and the circuit is established so as to permit the transmission of messages. The moment the shield is released, however, it resumes its former posit-ion, and the circuit is discontinued.

E is an ordinary telephonereceiver, which is carried, in the present instance, by an arm, F, the latter being secured to the side of the box A, or to any other fixed object. The receiver is essentially a permanent fixture, although it is preferably made adjustable in the end of the arm,'and although the arm itself all that is necessary in receiving and trans mittin g messages being for the operator to adjust his ear to the fixed receiver when his mouth will be opposite the transmitter, and then move back the shield to the position indicated by dotted lines, so that the transmitter shall bein a condition for the transmission of messages; and when the use of the instrument is discontinued all that is necessary is to release the shield and thereby discontinue the circuit.

I prefer to use, in connection with the abovedescribed mechanism, a treadle, W, Fig. 3, which is connected, by a rod, w, to an arm, g on the shaft D, so that the shield and switcharm can be operated by the foot in using the instrument, thereby leaving both hands at liberty for writing at the desk M.

The shield may be pivoted to the upper or lower edge of the michrophone-box; or it may be made in the form of a sliding door, rendered self-closing by a spring or weight, the movement of the door or shield being transmitted to the switch-arm through the medium of such mechanism as the manner of arranging the shield may suggest.

The transmitter itself may be movable and adapted to slide in guides, as shown in Fig. 4, and combined with devices for raising it and permitting it to fall, and for causing it to operate the switch-arm, the door or shield being of the orifice of the transmitter by the said shield, as set forth.

2. The combination, in telephonic apparatus, of a fixed receiver, a transmitter, and a movable shield, with a switch and with mechanism for connecting the shield to the switch, all substantially as described.

3. The combination of the transmitter, the I shield, switch, and connecting mechanism and the fixed receiver, with a device for actuating the shield and switch by the foot.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY HOWSON.

Witnesses:

JAMES F. ToBIN, HARRY SMITH. 

